The bye week has come and gone, six games are in the books and the league is starting to sort itself out. How ridiculously awesome was the Charger game? I enjoy watching the Broncos beat Phyllis Rivers nearly as much as watching them stomp the Raiders. With two division victories under our belts and ownership of the tie-breaker at the top of the division, I have to say things look good for a repeat division championship. Let's see what Madden has in store for us this week, shall we?

First, let's take a look at the results of this season's predictions so far.

Madden Predictions, 2012, Week 1:

Play-through: Pittsburgh 27, Denver 24

Sim Average: Denver 21, Pittsburgh 18

Actual Result: Denver 31, Pittsburgh19

Madden Predictions, 2012, Week 2:

Play-through: Denver 28, Atlanta 21

Sim Av.erage: Atlanta 23, Denver 21

Actual Result: Atlanta 27, Denver 21

Madden Predictions, 2012, Week 3

Play-through: Denver 20, Houston 0 (oops, that result might have been a little off)

Sim Average: Houston 27, Denver 12

Actual Result: Houston 31, Denver 25

Madden Predictions, 2012, Week 4

Play-through: Denver 28, Oakland 20

Sim Average: Oakland 20, Denver 17

Actual Result: Denver 37, Oakland 6 (Hee-hee)

Madden Predictions, 2012, Week 5

Play-through: Denver 28, New England 7

Sim Average: New England 26, Denver 20

Actual Result: New England 31, Denver 21

No prediction for week 6 due to technical difficulties, no prediction for week 7, bye week.

Madden Play-through accuracy: 1-4

I have just been all kinds of wrong with the play-through predictions thus far. Hopefully that changes given what the play-through shows this week. For those of you who have not read this series before, I play through each week's game once in control of the Broncos. In addition to this, I also sim the game. I do a total of 5 sims each week to obtain a decent sample size. Here are the results of the play through.

Final Score: Denver 20, New Orleans 0

If this had been an actual game I watched on tv, it would have been something of a snore-fest. Not a lot of big plays, no turnovers, just a lot of solid, fundamental football. Of course, I would have enjoyed watching regardless because the Broncos won. Manning had a solid, if unremarkable performance, and the same could be said of the offense as a whole. The defense was lights out, lacking only in the turnover department.

Relevant Stats

Passing:

Denver - P. Manning - 21/26, 239 YDS, 1 TD

New Orleans - D. Brees - 15/23, 141 YDS

Rushing:

Denver - W. McGahee - 22 ATTs, 87 YDs

R. Hillman - 4 ATTs, 8 YDs, 1 TD

New Orleans - P. Thomas - 6 ATTs, 11 YDs

Receiving:

Denver - D. Thomas - 4 RECs, 41 YDs

E. Decker - 6 RECs, 65 YDs, 1 TD

New Orleans - J. Graham - 4 RECs, 36 YDs

P. Thomas - 2 RECs, 18 YDs

Defense:

Denver - R. Moore - 7 TCKLs, 3 PassDef

V. Miller - 5 TCKLs, 1 SACK

New Orleans - D. Hawthorne - 5 TCKLs, 1 TFL

J. Patrick - 3 TCKLs, 1 SACK

Special Teams:

Denver - M. Prater - 2 FGA, 2 FGM, Long 51 YDs

New Orleans - No relevant stats

And now here are the results of this week's sims.

Sim 1: New Orleans 34, Denver 7

Sim 2: New Orleans 31, Denver 17

Sim 3: Denver 48, New Orleans23

Sim 4: New Orleans 41, Denver 10

Sim 5: Denver 48, New Orleans 13

Sim Average: New Orleans 28, Denver 26

Well, there you have it folks. Hopefully the Broncos can make the play-through come true. I'd sure like to have a win streak at some point this year. Anyways, here's to making Drew Brees cry on Sunday! GO BRONCOS!!!!